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Plot Synopsis
In a small farming town in eastern Alryne, in the foothills of the Thuulian mountains, a bounty was posted. Wanted, dead or alive, by the king of Thuladin: the rogue elven wizard Laeroth. Six individuals sought this bounty, each for their own reasons. The first, an assassin for hire from Magnimar named Roya Ravenheart, on another assignment but looking for extra cash. The second, a Kaldian wizard named Ezmorn, just forging out on his own from the Academy in Alryne. The third, a grippli ranger from Jungor Swamp named Koh’Krii, working as a guide in the region. The fourth, a psychic prostitute named Keverra and the fifth, an adventuring tiefling named Gilfred, sought merely some extra pocket money, just as Roya did. And the last, Nerlin, a half-elf druid, had her own reasons for hunting Laeroth. The six met, and began to work together to track down the wizard. Soon enough, they found him hiding among the town’s populace, and they captured him with little effort. While debating whether to take him dead or alive, Ezmorn slit his throat, making the decision for everyone. The group set out for Thuladin to collect their bounty. In the Thuulian mountains, the group stopped in a small mining town named Dushnik Yol. They were quickly propositioned by a frantic mother to find her missing children, who had gone north into the mountains on their own little adventure. Enlisting the help of a guide, the party traveled north of the mountains, but their guide was soon killed by a peryton, a strange hybrid of stag, wolf, and eagle. They fled the peryton and traveled deeper into the peaks, eventually coming across an alchemist’s tower. They found the children within the tower, as well as more bizarre and twisted creatures on which the alchemist experimented. The party also learned that the alchemist had been creating these hybrids to serve an enigmatic figure going by the name of E, who seemed to be operating out of Sanctum. After a close call with the peryton and its mate (during which Keverra came within a hair’s breadth of death), and after rescuing the children, the party traveled back to Dushnik Yol and continued traveling to Thuladin. The party soon arrived in Thuladin, where they immediately traveled to the inner regions to speak with the dwarven king. They spoke with the king’s magistrate, who paid the group for their bounty and also offered them another job - an organized bandit presence had been growing in the mountains around the city, and had been causing troubles for traveling merchants in the region. The king would pay handsomely for a group to investigate these bandit problems and solve them by any means necessary. They took some time to think on the proposition, and it was after collecting the bounty that Keverra left the group, staying within the walled city for her own safety after the peryton fiasco. Meanwhile, the rest of the party encountered a group of human thugs attacking a group of dwarves that the party had been escorting (on the magistrate’s suggestion), and helped to drive them off. Considering the dwarves’ offer, the party decided instead to investigate the rumors of the E individual in Sanctum. Traveling north out of the city, they soon ran into a group of bandits blocking the road. They attempted to convince the bandits that they were traveling performers, and put on a show for the thugs. In a surprise twist, the party suddenly attacked, mid-performance, and killed the bulk of the bandits, only leaving one to flee. They continued on their way to Sanctum. Arriving in Sanctum, the party met with the city’s council to inform the elves of what they’d learned about this E character. They also met a tiefling named Gaius, a former adventurer who had since settled down in Sanctum, and Envaris, a half-elf who claimed to be an old friend of Gilfred’s. The five adventurers were propositioned to investigate a town to the north of Sanctum, Gildertown, which the city had not heard from in several days. Traveling to the town, the group quickly learned that the bulk of the residents had been collectively slain by goblins in the region. Unfortunately, goblinoids were still in the area, and the party contended with their forces before reporting back to the council of Sanctum. Another town had gone off the radar. Tasked once again with investigating the silence, the party traveled to this new town, but found themselves separated into three distinctly odd scenarios upon their arrival. Ezmorn and Roya found themselves in the woods, contending with a fateful well and Ezmorn’s dead brother. Koh’Krii and Gilfred were tied up and forced to watch as a hooded executioner systematically killed their friends. Nerlin was pursued by opportunists who hunted her due to her hidden noble heritage. The party eventually overcame these scenarios and learned that they were psychically-induced nightmares of their worst fears. The party slayed the psychics responsible and reported back to the council. Finally, the party learned of reports of orcs mobilizing in the western regions of Sanctum. Leaving the city once more to investigate, they were followed by Envaris and her coworker Madoka, a curious catfolk. Despite their best efforts, the party couldn’t convince the two tagalongs to return to the city, so they joined together. The party found a wagon that had been attacked by a group of orcs, and went off to follow the tracks and find the culprits. The culprits, as they learned, were a tribe of nearly a hundred orcs, outfitted for battle. Nerlin used her druidic abilities to scout the camp, learning the general layout and location of their chieftain, an orc/ogre hybrid known as an orog, while Koh and Roya snuck in at night, murdering the chieftain surreptitiously and sneaking out once more. The chieftain’s death sparked mass confusion, panic, and anger throughout the camp, and the party used a forest fire to escape detection and flee back toward Sanctum. Upon their return, they learned that Elnaryn, one of the elven council members, was the man behind the name E. He was, in reality, a drow who had been magically disguised as a surface elf, and was amassing an army to attack Sanctum. The goblins to the north, the now-dead psychics, and the orcs, among many others, were a part of his plot, enticed by money or power or similar promises. The army was mobilizing, and would attack Sanctum in no more than three days’ time. The druids of Sanctum crafted a wall for the city out of tree trunks and branches, while the bulk of the party worked alongside the Sanctum town guard and handfuls of volunteers to defend the city. Gaius led refugees out of the city toward the southeast. Ezmorn and Nerlin defended the west wall against a force of zombified orcs, killed and then resurrected by the ambitious shaman of the incoming tribe. The shaman was defended by the shambling corpse of the very chieftain who had been murdered days prior. Gilfred helped defend the north wall against waves of goblins and trolls, and even an invading force of goblins who’d used underground tunnels to enter the city proper. Finally, Koh traveled outside the walls with a small band of volunteers, sought out the leaders of this army - Elnaryn himself and a hobgoblin named Bekri - and slayed them. Soon after the deaths of their leaders, the invading army disbanded and fractured. Roya was nowhere to be seen for this climactic fight. For the next month, the party (sans Roya, who had disappeared) helped to clean up the mess in Sanctum in the wake of the siege. Roya returned after the month had run its course, citing “business” as her reason for leaving. Ezmorn was seduced and stolen from by a doppelganger, who the party hunted down soon after. In the meantime, Koh was approached by two grippli, old friends from his homeland, requesting his help with a new threat to their people. Koh left the party to help, but his prior companions soon met a young kitsune woman from Semele named Rayne Belas, who wished to travel with them. Learning a rumor of illegal dinosaur trafficking in the region, the party (which now consisted of Nerlin, Roya, Gilfred, Ezmorn, and Rayne) decided to investigate, starting by asking their good friend Envaris. She pointed them toward Madoka, who seemed to have some sort of substance abuse problem (it was catnip), and the party learned the identity of Madoka’s dealer after speaking with the catfolk. They apprehended the dealer, who attempted to fight the party but was quickly subdued. To learn more about the trafficking, he pointed the party in the direction of Sen Serine, a town in eastern Sanctum, after some coercing. The party traveled to Sen Serine, sans Gilfred and Nerlin. Along the way, they were attacked by a barghest and a pair of wargs, who had been involved with the siege a month prior, although the wolflike creatures were handily defeated. Upon reaching Sen Serine, the party met with the dinosaur trafficker, a vishkanya named Ricor’Vatl who disguised himself as a human named Ricard Valton. Ricor’Vatl made a deal with the party to sell them a dinosaur if they helped him deal with a dinosaur who had escaped. The group of six (Ezmorn, Roya, Rayne, Ricor’Vatl, and the vishkanya’s two bodyguards) hunted down the tyrannosaurus, and although the dinosaur was taken down, Ricor’Vatl and his elven bodyguard Zinjor were slain. The second bodyguard, a gnome named Wrofi, lashed out in rage at the party, but they subdued her and brought her back to the Sanctum council as a witness to the trafficking. The party then learned of Halverion, a city between Kald and Santum, serving as a haven to lycanthropes and seeking to create its own province. It seemed there was a conflict brewing with Kald, which was the province which originally held jurisdiction over Halverion and the surrounding region. The group made plans to travel there, but they were interrupted by a mass poisoning at their inn in Sanctum - several died, while Rayne was afflicted with a longer-lasting but far more fatal poison. The party sought the help of a town apothecary, but he was found dead in his shop. Ezmorn worked tirelessly to develop an antidote, which he eventually applied to Rayne and cured the poison. The party learned that this was the work of a druidic nagaji assassin from Semele, who was tasked with not only killing Rayne, but making her suffer in the process. The nagaji felt remorse for this method of killing and approached the party, where he was swiftly murdered before getting more than three sentences out. Beginning their southward travel to Halverion, the party (sans Gilfred, who had stayed behind in Sanctum) first stopped in a town called Theron, about three days north of Halverion. They heard a rumor that a Kaldian town had been attacked and wiped out by lycanthropes, and soon after, Theron was attacked by members of the Silverclaw mercenary company, from Kald. They worked together with a wereboar skinwalker named Visrild to drive the mercs out, but not before meeting an enigmatic man named Ephraim, who seemed to be a follower of an evil deity but also seemed to wish for the party’s wellbeing during the attack. Among the mercenaries was a girl, roughly Rayne’s age, who seemed to have power over fire - when the fight started to go sour for Silverclaw, she turned on them, killing two of her allies before fleeing on wings of flame. The party helped clean up the town in the aftermath, although Nerlin left permanently at this point as well. The next morning, the party (plus Gilfred and Envaris, who had traveled down from Sanctum and met back up with them, as well as Visrild) decided to continue on to Halverion, and to inform Halverion’s council of the tragedy in Theron. They met up with a caravan of individuals making the journey as well - Niles, a skinwalker werebat seeking to join an organization of lycan sympathizers named the Rising Moon; Cassandra, a halfling guard lieutenant who lost an arm in the fighting the night before; Astrid Oakheart, a human woman and the wealthiest of the group who seemed to value her own safety more than most things; Bellethiel, a confrontational but caring elven werebear; and Felix, a feral werewolf who had been left in Theron and was being watched over by Bellethiel. The caravan set out together, but had a tragedy when someone released Felix on the night of the full moon, and he transformed and killed several nearby travelers. The party went out and retrieved Felix via paralysis poison, later attempting unsuccessfully to find the culprit who had engineered his escape. They continued the journey to Halverion, spirits low. Upon arriving in Halverion, the caravan unloaded their gear at an inn and split their separate ways. Astrid led the party to meet with Halverion’s council, consisting of five influential members of the city’s society - one from each district. After learning more of the potential conflict with Kald, the party met with the councilor Valocar, who explained that he was also the leader of the Rising Moon (at least in northern Cyrrane) and enlisted their help in either traveling to Kald to help avoid conflict or learning the whereabouts of an individual named Ilthuriin, who served as a caretaker of Kald and hadn’t been seen in months. The party then bumped into Niles once more, who secretly requested a meeting with Rayne that night. Rayne snuck away from the party to meet with Niles, and Niles revealed that there was a gap in his memory from the night Felix was released, and he suspected that he was the one to do it. At that moment, he was magically manipulated into stabbing himself in the head, and the culprit teleported away before Rayne or the others (who had shown up by this point) could catch them. The next morning, the somber party was approached by Felix, who was given a magical ring by the clerics of the Moonshrine (a temple to Desna in Halverion) to suppress his transformations. He slipped away from Bellethiel and the clerics, requesting the party’s help in growing stronger and curing his lycanthropy, and the group agreed to assist him. The party - now Roya, Ezmorn, Rayne, Gilfred, Envaris, and Felix - set off for Kald, deciding to search for Ilthuriin. Along the way, they came upon a small town of shepherds, at which a small group of Silverclaw mercenaries and a small group of Night Stalker adventurers were competing to find the culprit of a series of livestock killings in the area, the former suspecting it to be the work of a werebat and the latter pinning the blame on vampires. The party joined in the hunt, eventually learning that the true culprits were a human and gnome who commanded a group of chupacabras. A battle ensued, and although the culprits were caught, Ezmorn was slain by a vicious flying chupacabra. Their hearts heavy, the group buried Ezmorn, Rayne gracing his graveside with a haunting Semelese burial song. They carried on their journey, soon coming to a town which had been recently robbed by mysterious raiders in white robes and masks. Ephraim, the man they met in Theron, was also in this town, along with his cohort - the three individuals had been attacked by these raiders, and Ephraim sought the party’s help in retrieving his stolen goods. Rayne and Ephraim chased down a smaller group of raiders as they fled, while Felix and Roya stalked the larger group of raiders as they traveled north to another town. Ephraim and Rayne made short work of the two individuals they found, and after Ephraim retrieved his own possessions, the two of them brought the stolen goods back to town. Meanwhile, Roya and Felix were hard-pressed to defeat the raiders on their own, but were rescued by a hippogriff-riding fetchling Sanctum guard named Acera, who had been sent by Gaius to assist the party and deliver a package. The group, plus Acera, met back in town after their respective missions were complete. The party learned that Ilthuriin, the individual they sought, was a copper dragon who lived at the Divide between northern and southern Cyrrane. They traveled south to find the dragon’s lair, but first met an apparently-elven girl named Joy, who had wandered through the wilderness on her own, but upon learning of the dragon’s lair, sought to speak with her as well. The group went down into Ilthuriin’s lair and traversed several illusory traps only to find her son, a copper/green dragon named Kerafym, standing by as a guardian. A lengthy time of bantering and joking with the incorrigible, young, trickster dragon ensued, by the end of which the party learned that Ilthuriin had traveled into the Plane of Shadows through a nearby portal to stop the raiders in white (a race of humanoids called shae) from attacking further settlements in Kald. Finding the portal, the party made its way through, finding themselves in the bleak landscape of the Shadow Plane. They began to travel northward in an attempt to find signs of Ilthuriin’s passage. An overturned wagon near the portal, surrounded by pitted, acid-burned ground, gave clues to her direction. During their week of travel in the plane, the party encountered a man infested by a shadowy beast, a city of psychic insect people willing to make some trades, an eccentric wizard named Riku exploring the plane, and groups of red-eyed monsters that tried to drag Gilfred away. Eventually, they reached an imposing citadel in the mountains, which Acera recognized as the citadel of the umbral dragon Garuga. The party learned that the portal was being sustained by a trio of crystals, one of which had already been destroyed by Ilthuriin. The second was within this keep. The group found a small cave under Acera’s direction - the cave that she lived in for the first five years of her life. Within was a hidden tunnel, winding its way underneath the citadel. The party went through the tunnel, emerging into a large cavern full of bioluminescent mushrooms. Soon, they came upon a small group of fetchlings, like Acera, and shae. The shadow denizens saw the party and attempted to warn others in the citadel, but the party stopped them before they could leave the cave. A heated argument ensued among the members of the party - do they kill the still-living shae and fetchlings, or do they leave them unconscious and hope for the best? By the time any semblance of a decision was made, they were interrupted by the sounds of booted feet - one of the living but incapacitated fetchlings had escaped into the tunnels beyond the cavern, alerting others within the citadel to the party’s presence. The adventurers scattered throughout the cave, ambushing the citadel’s denizens after they entered. The fetchlings and shae were led by a dragonborn named Untaarl, who used telekinetic powers to attack the party. After some heated combat, the party managed to eliminate the citadel dwellers who had attacked them. Untaarl attempted to flee, but was pursued by a teleporting Rayne, who blinked into the air to kill the levitating dragonborn. The party, knowing that they weren’t safe for long, retreated to Acera’s cave to rest, returning to the mushroom cave after licking their wounds to find that the entrance to the rest of the citadel was blocked off by a huge rock. Gilfred suggested that Joy raise a small army of skeletons and send them against the main entrance to the citadel as a distraction, while the party would then travel up into the citadel through the tunnels upon Joy’s return. Joy headed back up to the surface to direct her skeletons but was spotted by a small group of shae and fetchlings outside the wall - she fought them off with the help of Acera’s hippogriff, Talyn, and then began to trek back toward the mushroom cave. Meanwhile, Acera and Gilfred removed the boulder blocking the entrance to the cave to find a fetchling standing there. Acera began to talk to the fetchling, although it quickly became apparent that the fetchling was stalling until reinforcements arrived. Gilfred, Envaris, Felix, and Acera fought these reinforcements, while Roya and Rayne slipped past and snuck deeper into the tunnel system. Eventually, when Joy returned, she helped her companions kill the shae and fetchlings. Roya and Rayne discovered some gem mines, a strange earthen creature, and a dead end, so they returned and met with the rest of the group. They traveled upward into the citadel, finding themselves in a storeroom. Acera went out into the citadel proper, promptly finding herself captured and thrown into their prison. Roya and Rayne used the tunnels to sneak through the citadel’s barracks and find the prison, while Joy and Felix attempted to use Joy’s earlier skeleton attack to sneak after the group that took Acera. Gilfred and Envaris stayed in the storeroom, temporarily. Felix was nabbed by shae, and Joy managed to convince a fetchling that she was lost. Rayne freed Acera and another prisoner, a tengu named Arkaugh, while Roya created a distraction in the prison and fled. Roya met up with Felix and his captor, while Joy was led by the fetchling to meet another dragonborn, a fighter named Orlaga. Seeking to fight Untaarl’s killer, Orlaga had Joy lead him back to the rest of the party. By this point, Rayne and Acera had found and freed Ilthuriin, who was forced into a humanoid form by a magic ring. Joy and Orlaga entered the prison, meeting a waiting host of Felix, Acera, Rayne, Roya, and Ilthuriin, and a short but brutal battle ensued in which Orlaga was killed. Ilthuriin was freed of her magic ring, and the rest of the prisoners - primarily villagers from the Material Plane - were freed as well. Gilfred and Envaris found the party in the prison. Felix and Envaris agreed to escort the prisoners out of the citadel, while Gilfred, Ilthuriin, Roya, Rayne, Acera, and Joy continued into the citadel to find the crystal sustaining the portal to the Material Plane, which was located in the dragon Garuga’s treasure room. They encountered a third and final dragonborn, a warrior named Carnax - she wisely allowed the party to pass without trouble, agreeing that she stood no chance against Ilthuriin. Eventually, the party found their way into the treasure room and destroyed the crystal, but were interrupted by Garuga’s imminent return - they used Ilthuriin, who had since transformed back into dragon form, and Talyn to escape, but were found by Garuga. The party and their allies fought Garuga, and eventually were able to put him to rest (in a manner of speaking). Acera headed back into the citadel to free the fetchlings and shae from their dominion by Garuga, but the denizens were too fearful of Carnax to leave with Acera. The party recuperated from their battle, and set out to destroy the last crystal and leave the Plane of Shadows. Eventually, their task complete, the party returned to the Material Plane. The majority of the prisoners (sans Arkaugh) split from the group, while Ilthuriin led the party back to her lair. She rewarded them, then told them that she’d visit Kald in a few days’ time to assist in the resolution of the conflict between Kald and Halverion. The party then traveled north to Kald, meeting a faerie dragon named Rava along the way - Rava stuck around, becoming fast friends with Rayne. Finally, the group arrived at Kald. Arkaugh split from the group to investigate an adventuring company, while Felix finally told Acera and Joy about his lycanthrope nature.